“I am NOT building a new financial system. I built a casino.” This straightforward statement from Ken Chan, former co-founder of the Aevo derivatives protocol, has been resonating in the crypto communities of Asia this week.
What started as a post on X has now crossed linguistic borders, it was presented to Chinese communities by local media, and has been widely shared among Korean traders, accumulating millions of views in the process.
From Ayn Rand to disillusionment: the journey of a libertarian through the crypto world
Chan's confession is not just a critique but a revelation about his own ideology. He describes himself as a 'libertarian dreamer' who donated to Gary Johnson's presidential campaign in 2016 after feeling inspired by Ayn Rand's novels.
The cypherpunk ethics of Bitcoin connected directly with his worldview. 'The ability to cross a border with a billion dollars in my head will always be a powerful idea for me,' he writes.
However, eight years of experience in the industry wore down that idealism. Chan recounts how Layer 1 wars—the influx of capital to Aptos, Sui, Sei, ICP, and many others—failed to spark any real advancement towards a new financial system.
Instead, 'it literally burned everyone's money' in the attempt to be the next Solana. His verdict is clear: 'We don't need to build the Casino on Mars.'
According to his LinkedIn profile, Chan left Aevo in May of this year. His personal website shows that he now works at KENSAT, a personal satellite project. The launch is scheduled on a Falcon 9 for June 2026. His confession comes six months after his departure.
It occurs as the AEVO token trades at approximately 45 million dollars in fully diluted market capitalization—almost 99% less than its all-time high.
The 'casino' metaphor appears amid market exhaustion
Chan's central metaphor—that the crypto industry has become 'the largest 24/7 multiplayer online casino our generation has ever imagined'—summarizes the situation beyond the technical complexity.
The timing makes the message stronger. After the market turbulence in October and ongoing volatility, participants across the region have felt fatigued. Chinese media interpreted the virality as a sign of 'collective anxiety amid liquidity drought and narrative void.'
Responses in Chinese have been divided. Some responded harshly: 'The same eight years—some reach the top, others exit the scene. Wasting time is your own problem.'
Others went even further than Chan, with one comment stating: 'The entire crypto circle is foolish, without exception. After more than a decade, what blockchain product has really been used by ordinary people?'
Korean responses reflect the same fatigue. 'Aside from stablecoins, there's no real use case,' noted a trader. Another was more direct: 'At the core of crypto, no one is creating real value for society—only scammers looking to take money from retail investors.'
Generational anxiety finds a voice beyond borders
Perhaps the most striking thing is Chan's warning that the 'toxic mentality of the industry will lead to the long-term collapse of social mobility for the younger generation.'
This concern resonates in East Asian societies. Traditional paths to wealth—real estate, stable employment—are becoming increasingly inaccessible. Cryptocurrencies promised to be an alternative; Chan suggests it might be accelerating the problem.
Korean analyst KKD Whale shared a similar reflection without directly responding to Chan. 'The era of excelling with a single main skill is coming to an end,' he wrote, recalling a colleague who could do eight hours of work in one but never delved deeply into his expertise. The skill became obsolete; the person moved on.
While Chan wonders what the industry has built, KKD Whale questions what people have accumulated in it. Both reach the same unsettling conclusion.
Chan concludes with a quote from CMS Holdings: 'Do you want to make money or do you want to be right?' His response: 'This time, I choose to be right.'
Six months after leaving the project he created, and with AEVO trading at a fraction of its previous value, the question remains: Is this clarity from experience, or just the ease of having exited? The viral nature of his confession shows that many others are asking the same question.
